Thursday, November 01, 2007

Small parties to team up for TPR

Razen ManandharKathmandu, October 31:

Unlike big parties, small parties are rooting for the adoption of a Total Proportional Representation (TPR). They say an alliance should be forged between small parties and other alliances for the adoption of this system. The Jana Morcha Nepal, CPN-United, CPN-Unified and the NSP-Anandidevi are some of the parties that have been demanding that the constituent assembly polls be held on the basis of TPR.Ganesh Shah, general secretary, CPN-United, said today: “We will wage a joint struggle to break the monopoly of the big parties.”Kabiraj Timilsina, spokesperson, Nepal People’s Party, said only a coalition among the pro-TPR parties and forces will put pressure on the big parties.Chairman of the Nepal Federation of Indigenous Nationalities (NEFIN) Pasang Sherpa said that the adoption of an all-out proportional representation will suit the country.Demanding the TPR, the NEFIN handed over a memorandum at the PM’s Office yesterday. “TPR is a matter of our existence. Women have been sidelined by parties in polls. Now, we want to have our seats secured in the CA and this is the only way for us,” said Dr Renu Rajbhandari, coordinator, National Alliance of Women Human Right Defenders.

NEFIN’s proposalKATHMANDU: The indigenous people will assure the government that those who will be elected in the constituent assembly will not claim their share in the government, NEFIN chairman Pasang Sherpa said on Wednesday. “We know, the major parties are worried that we might seek our seats in the government. We want to make it clear that we, the Janajatis and as minorities, are not asking for total PR to become ministers. We just want to have the right to write our own statute,” he said. According to his option, elected assembly will be engaged only in drafting the statute, while the seven-party coalition will stay in the government even after the polls, probably in an expanded form. — HNS